AUSTINCITYLIMITS: Bon Iver

Airs Friday, May 9, 2014 at 11 p.m on KPBSTV

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS (ACL) Season 38 hit its stride with a breathtaking performance by 2012 Grammy Award-winning Best New Artist Bon Iver in a standout ACL debut. Joined by an eight-piece band for the occasion, frontman Justin Vernon turns his intimate confessionals into orchestral pop anthems in his first turn at ACL.

“This is a trip,” a heartfelt Vernon says from the ACL stage at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. “I used to be on the other end of the screen when I was 10.”

Bon Iver is the moniker of Wisconsin native Justin Vernon, a name derived from the French phrase for “good winter.” Written during a secluded winter stay in a remote cabin in Northwest Wisconsin, Vernon crafted a stunning collection of bold, ardent musings layered with pastoral melodies and his hauntingly smooth falsetto into Bon Iver's acclaimed debut "For Emma, Forever Ago."

In 2011, Bon Iver released the much-anticipated follow-up, "Bon Iver, Bon Iver," earning two Grammy Awards in 2012 for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album.

“In my opinion, Justin Vernon is a musical genius,” says ACL Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “The music he creates through Bon Iver transcends anything else out there in pop or rock. The orchestration may be dense and the lyric abstract - to say the least - but together the effect is riveting. Seeing it live really brings it to life in a way ACL does best.”

Vernon had high praise for his debut ACL experience: “This is the only perfect, wonderful music show that we have.”

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